Have a question?

Search results

In 1916 the New Zealand Government introduced conscription (compulsory enlistment for military
service), to reinforce the shrinking numbers of men volunteering to serve in
WW1. All men eligible for service were then required to register their names
and other details, such as age and marriage status. This silent film clip, shot
by the government’s own cameraman, shows the first-ever ballot at the
Government Statistician’s Office, to determine which registered men would be
selected for war service. The registration cards are laid out in boxes on long
tables. Their numbers are transferred onto wooden balls which are placed in a
rotating tumbler and randomly selected.

Conscription was
politically contentious, and the film shows a party of journalists invited to
view and report on the first ballot. They include Harry Holland, reporting for
the labour movement paper, the Maoriland
Worker. He had been imprisoned for sedition, for speaking out against conscription two years ealier in 1914.

This pro-conscription cartoon appeared shortly after August 1915. Although Australia had not
long been involved in the war, it was already becoming apparent that casualty
rates in Turkey were extremely high.

Conscription was introduced by law in New
Zealand. However, Australians were able to vote on introducing conscription in
a referendum in October 1916. This film was made as part of the “Vote Yes’
campaign. It shows PM William Hughes presenting the pro-conscription case,
followed by messages to vote 'Yes' from well known figures such as the martyred
Nurse Cavell, King George V and France’s General Joffre. Despite these efforts, however, the campaign for conscription was narrowly defeated.

“Produced with the wholehearted co-operation of the military and naval authorities,” The
Hero of the Dardanelles, was a feature-length narrative film made to encourage men to enlist. It premiered at Melbourne’s Majestic Theatre on 17 July 1915, unfortunately, only the first 11 minutes
of the 40-minute film survive.

This footage shows Australian troops boarding a train in France after the battle of the Somme and some of the worst fighting of
World War One. One carriage has ‘Direct to Aussie’ on the side, suggesting the troops are returning home – or perhaps just wishing they were!

Ena Ryan was born in the upper-middle class Wellington suburb of Kelburn in 1908. In this interview she
recalls going with her mother to hear the declaration of war being read outside
Parliament buildings on 5 August 1914 – and the ensuing patriotic fervour which
swept the country.

The First Māori Contingent are seen in Egypt on 3 April 1915, enthusiastically performing the haka “Te Kāhu Pōkere” which was as popular then as Te
Rauparaha’s famous war cry “Kā mate, Ka mate” is today. The Māori Contingent
were bound for Malta before moving on to Gallipoli. Their sense of adventure is
still apparent in this film as they were yet to face the heat of battle when,
as many a soldier has said, “Boys became men at the burst of the first shell
around them.” Performing the haka was found to be a good way to unite men under
a common purpose. It provided relief from the mundane day to day existence in
training camps, and was a form of entertainment for the Contingent and other
troops, as well as a morale booster.

Scenes of surf, sun and swimming at Coogee Beach, Sydney, played upon the sea as a place of recreation in stark contrast to the
suffering at Gallipoli and on the Western Front. This film clip from 1915 shows
the local surf lifesaving club practising with a surf reel. The foreshore is teeming
with swimmers and sunbathers, as well as a good number of beach visitors
dressed to the nines and content to promenade.

This 1915 Australian Government recruitment film uses slogans such as 'Play the
Greater Game' to urge men to join the Australian Imperial Force (AIF). Later
propaganda films were less subtle in their efforts, and used persuasion, fear,
guilt, confrontation, accusation, or scenes of heroic action on the
battlefields to influence eligible men to enlist. The films omitted any
reference to the harsh realities of military life or the threat of death or
injury for Australian troops abroad.